Most Legal Immigrants Won’t Need to Leave US to Get Green Card: DHS

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) clarified a recent policy change that would affect visa holders and green card applicants, following a new policy by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requiring some visa holders and humanitarian parolees to return to their home countries for further processing.

“This policy will not prevent [aliens] from obtaining a green card who legitimately and properly qualify,” an administration official told The Epoch Times on June 1. “It will result in some aliens who do not merit the discretionary benefit ultimately applying with the Department of State overseas rather than USCIS in the United States. This is another tool to address fraud and abuse which exist in our immigration system.”

Skilled immigrant professionals and people highly qualified to hold green cards will not see any noticeable impact from the policy shift, the person said.

The official added that the recent policy memo, issued this past week, is a restating of immigration law to allow USCIS agents to exercise “discretion in support of national and economic interests when they grant adjustment of status.”

The statement also said that the policy shift doesn’t affect people who currently hold green cards, adding that they can continue to live in the United States and travel freely to other countries.

The Trump administration, with the policy change, will “prioritize immigration that strengthens America culturally, socially, and financially while preventing mass third world migration which hurts our country and Americans,” the official added.

A policy issued on May 21 by USCIS told agents in a memo to direct some U.S.-based green card holders to apply from their country of origin, a spokesperson told The Epoch Times.

“With limited exceptions, the statutory scheme suggests that Congress expects aliens paroled into the United States or admitted into the United States as nonimmigrants to depart rather than pursue adjustment of status,” the memo said, in part.

The decision drew backlash from some immigration advocacy groups, including the American Immigration Lawyers Association, which said in an X post that the rule creates “needlessly chaotic” conditions for green card holders.

“Congress created adjustment of status precisely to allow eligible individuals to become permanent residents without uprooting their families, jobs, and communities,” the group said. “Today’s announcement follows a familiar pattern of travel bans, denaturalization efforts, and growing backlogs designed to gum up the system and choke off legal immigration.”

Since taking office, the Trump administration has issued more stringent immigration policy directives, most targeting people living in the United States illegally. During his 2024 presidential campaign, President Donald Trump often said that he would carry out a mass deportation agenda, targeting illegal immigrants who have criminal records.

Last month, White House border czar Tom Homan said that the government is working to increase deportations and indicated that the current number of removals is too low.

“Am I happy with the numbers right now?” he said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. “No, I want more, too. Even though numbers are historic, I want more.”